ISLAMABAD: The ongoing anti-India unrest in Held Kashmir has falsified all the Indian claims and once again vindicated that Kashmiris’ struggle against Indian illegal rule was not only indigenous but is also supported by masses. India has long been trying to equate the freedom struggle of Held Kashmir with terrorism to influence the world opinion in its favour and suppress the Kashmiris indigenous movement for right to self-determination. Blaming Pakistan for every wrong happening in India and the anti-Indian activities in Held Kashmir, were the tactics India has been using for decades, particularly since post 9/11 to depict Kashmir issue as a case of terrorism instead of struggle for right to self-determination. These efforts had never been successful, but the extra-judicial killing of Kashmiri leader, Burhan Muzzaffar Wani, and the following anti-India uprising has turned the entire situation against Indian ‘Mantra’ as no one in the world has supported Indian narrative of sponsored militancy in Held Kashmir, even the Indian think tanks and media have indicated this through their news reports. While discussing the martyrdom of Burhan Wani, an Indian writer, Sanjay Kumar wrote, “How does one explain Wani’s popularity among the masses. More than 200,000 people turned up at his funeral and all of them were young Kashmiris. Can the Indian government claim that those who came to bid farewell to the 22-year-old leader were all terrorists.” Many youngsters in the valley identify themselves with Wani. The participation of hundreds of thousands of people, particularly the youth, in the funeral of Burhan Wani is crystal clear indication that the Kashmiris movement is indigenous, which the India has been claiming, and blaming Pakistan for everything happening in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK). “Killing of Burhan and participation of hundreds of thousands of people in his funeral despite huge restrictions and imposition of curfew across the valley clearly shows that the movement of Kashmir is not terrorism but a mass public movement for their right,” said Sheikh Tajammulul Islam, a well-known senior Kashmiri journalist, having deep insight on Kashmir issue. He was of the view that ‘Line of Control’ is sophisticatedly fenced so there are no chances of infiltrations, but the militancy and movement in Held Kashmir is because of the local youth that have been forced by the Indian inflexibility to choose this path. Another journalist from Indian Held Kashmir, Rais Ahmed Mir, said that India was using power to crush struggle of Kashmiris. He said the use of excessive force against innocent civilians protesting peacefully over extrajudicial killings is deplorable and blatant violation of the right to life, right to freedom of expression and opinion, right to peaceful protest, right to peaceful assembly and other fundamental rights. The Kashmiri leadership also symbolise the Burhan Wani’s struggle with determined aspirations of new generation to break the shackles of Indian occupation. “The young and educated Kashmiri boys are part of the struggle at the indigenous level and they are not the ones who are going anywhere outside for training nor is anyone anchoring them from behind,” said APCH Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. India was never serious to resolve Kashmir issue. It has been using brutal force as a strategy to quell the struggle of Kashmiris and the people of the soil have no option but to stand for resistance when they are pushed against wall, said an APHC representative of Azad Kashmir, Syed Kifayat. He said that Burhan Wani is the voice of youth and he represents youth of Kashmir who are determined to continue their struggle against Indian rule till they achieve the goal of freedom. “Wani was part of a new generation of young, educated Kashmiri youth using social media to spread their demands for independence from Indian rule and Wani was extremely active on social media, and did not hide his identity behind a mask. He was known for utilising social media for promotion of freedom struggle and motivating youth to play their due role in getting freedom from Indian bondage,” he added. The forces of India have started a war against Kashmiris to keep its illegal occupation on Kashmir intact as a result of which more than 55 innocents have lost their lives. The police and the forces were not even sparing those who were injured or their families and even the hospital wards had been turned into torture centres for them. “The international community must intervene and take immediate notice of the killings of Kashmiris and the atrocities committed by Indian occupation forces,” said Malik Abrar Ahmed, chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan. He said Indian forces, by killing Kashmiri leaders like Burhan Wani, were compelling innocent youth to take up arms for their legitimate right to self-determination in Held Kashmir.